Another year… another birthday… another holiday… another gift to buy… The stress of finding the right gift (or just something different from years past) can take the joy out of gift giving and celebrating. Don’t let the struggle of what to get rob you of celebrating special occasions. Check out these unconventional gift ideas that are purposeful and unique.
Home Protection & Security
Nothing is more valuable than your family’s safety and their own sense of security. Alarmingly, the 2015 Crime in the United States report by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program shows that there were nearly 8 million property crimes in 2015, including an estimated 1,579,527 burglaries, with property losses of around $3.6 billion. A home invasion is not only a safety threat and invasion of privacy, but can result is significant financial loss and damage. Give those who matter most the priceless gift of home protection with a security camera installation and home alarm system (or upgrade!). The most high-tech system provides you and your loved ones with peace of mind 24/7.
Airfare & Travel
You may not have the budget to fund an entire vacation or weekend getaway, but you can contribute to travel expenses. In 2016, the average domestic round-trip airfare was $366.92, according to airfare data from the U.S. DOT Passenger Airline Origin and Destination Survey. Include a spouse and children and that airfare skyrockets. Help cut those travel costs with an airline gift card — an easy gift for those with wanderlust. American Airlines, for example, allows you to use up to eight gift cards toward a ticket. This means your loved one can collect credit toward a flight with gift cards given for several special occasions.
Professional Cleaning
A cleaning service may not sound like the most luxurious gift, but for a family living in a busy household, a professional cleaning gift certificate can be a quite exciting gesture. For families who live according to a chaotic schedule, chores inevitably get pushed further down the to-do list as stress intensifies over maintaining the home. Make sure not to send the wrong message with a gift that can imply your child has a dirty house; rather, suggest that this gift is for your family to go out and enjoy some qualify time together while the professionals take care of the dirty work. Then your family can return to a clean, sparkly home feeling refreshed.
Personalized Vino
Wine is always the perfect gift for someone with oenophilia, a love of wine. But a bottle of wine can be a bit of an insipid go-to gift time after time, which is why you can take it a step further by personalizing it. Personal Wine offers customizable wine labels or engraving for a variety of wines to select from. Create a label for any occasion—wishing a happy birthday or saying congratulations. Or get creative and write a funny joke or inspiring quote. Next choose a photo that will make the wine bottle truly unique. Crate and Barrel also offers fun wine accessories that you can add to the gift, like an ice mold/wine bottle chiller, corkcicle or bottle stopper.
Rent an Adventure
Imagine the Airbnb for vehicles. That’s Turo — a car rental app for locals. This isn’t just a car rental service for Honda Accords or Toyota Camrys, though. You can rent high-end luxury cars for a daytime excursion or an off-roading vehicle for an outdoor adventure. Turo is available in major cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and more. Your loved one can hit the road in style on a weekend getaway to Seattle with a Bentley rental. A Tesla can transform the transportation experience on vacation in San Fran. A vintage Corvette is a perfect for a joyride around San Diego, or rent a Mercedes-Benx G-Class for the rugged explorer on a trip in Denver.
